Bachelorette. Portland. Co-ed.

March 21, 2011 9:31 AM

Bachelorette party. Portland, OR. Co-ed. Eight of us. Please, hive, don't tell me to go to Old Town.

So, we are six women and two men, there are a couple folks I haven't met. One man and one woman don't drink, but don't object to other folks doing so. We're in our early 30s. We all love delicious food. We'll be starting ~6 pm on a Saturday in April, and it's not the night before the wedding, so we can be rambunctious.

Stuff that's for-sure on the agenda:
*Beauty Lounge on Mississippi. Bride wants to go. Is it possible to include the guys in this in some meaningful way? Do they have moustache wax?

*Private karaoke room. As far as I know, everyone likes karaoke, those who want to can drink, it should be awesome bonding time. Suggestions to make this part extra awesome welcome.

Stuff that needs to be pinned down:
*Early-ish dinner with the crew - location must be tasty, kitschy, and affordable for everyone coming (think ~$20/person max). At least a couple members of the party work with food, so there is some pressure to find something AWESOME.

*Some sort of group activity.
-I like the idea of some sort of DIY class, ideally food-related.
-The bride is open about liking raunchy undies - perhaps we could decorate or shop for knickers, but I think this might be too weird.
-Another suggestion was doing some sort of pole-dancing/burlesque/bellydancing class, maybe earlier in the day - the dudes might play along or could opt out, but I'd really rather have something they'd be comfortable with. Will ask them for approval if y'all suggest a place that does friendly, co-ed classes.

I saw this question; it is old and the answers are exactly what I'm not looking for.

posted by momus_window to human relations (9 answers total)

Early dinner--is the Commercial option at Lincoln too spendy? (It's basically a table right next to the ovens in the kitchen, they'll probably throw all sorts of off-menu items at you.)

Sadly, Urban Wine Works is closed or the wine-blending class might have been a good option. Alternatively, what about touring Clear Creek Distillery?

On the other hand, if you're already going to be on Mississippi, going to Prost and the associated food carts would be an excellent time, there are a lot of great places to nosh, and the beer is great.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 10:09 AM on March 21, 2011

Food-wise, I think food carts are a really good idea. That said, http://www.kptv.com/money/25762425/detail.html is a thai restaurant with drag queens, which would be fun for a bachelorette party.
posted by verbyournouns at 10:34 AM on March 21, 2011

Olympic Provisions or Bunk Bar for early dinner. (Holy crap, the sandwiches at Bunk Bar. You cannot go wrong.)
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 10:42 AM on March 21, 2011

My co-ed bachelorette party is going to a private karaoke room and then to a burlesque show. This is in Seattle but I'm sure you have both of those things in Portland.
posted by matildaben at 10:58 AM on March 21, 2011

It looks like the Beauty Lounge is only open til 7pm (unless you can make a special appointment for later?), so you might do that first. But I would suggest the bridge going with a girlfriend or two earlier, getting all fancied up up, and then meeting everyone else at 6pm (or whatever) somewhere else on Mississippi. I'm not seeing how it'd be much fun for eight people to sit around in a beauty parlor. Do they even have enough seats?

For a class: Hipcooks on N Williams (only a few blocks from Mississippi) has classes on Saturday evenings (and other times. If you want to spend $1000 (!), you can get a private class.
posted by bluedaisy at 11:42 AM on March 21, 2011

2nding Prost and the next-door food carts. It's in the same neighborhood as you'll already be in, and you can roll yourself home for the amount of food you could get for 20 bucks there.
posted by furnace.heart at 12:07 PM on March 21, 2011

Have Nailed by Ally do everyone's nails!
posted by vespabelle at 1:28 PM on March 21, 2011

Lincoln sounds rad, sent it to the MOH.

From my own research, I also sent her Darcelle's XV (Portland institution for drag shows) and the Chocolate Craft Studio (they mostly sell kits, but I know they have done workshop-type things in the past). No obvious burlesque shows on the intended date, nor Hipcooks classes. Also considered a visit to She Bop, but I think it's too much for our particular group dynamic.

Apparently Beauty Lounge does drinks some evenings and they have skincare stuff / makeup.
posted by momus_window at 9:02 AM on March 22, 2011

So, that happened. We ate at Central at the bride's request. Then on to Voicebox for karaoke and a semi-private space for opening gifts. Then bar-hopped - Beauty Bar (an actual bar, not the same as Beauty Lounge), Bunk Bar, Savoy.
posted by momus_window at 2:48 PM on May 9, 2011